Border wait times swell amid customs officer shuffle to...

1of7Roberto Hernandez, a truck driver from Nuevo Laredo waits to be able to deliver cargo into the United States on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, in Nuevo Laredo.Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Staff photographer

2of7Trucks wait in line on the Mexican Federal Highway Two to cross to the United States from Nuevo Laredo on Wednesday, April 3, 2019. Rapidly growing energy exports helped the Port of Laredo to overtake the Port of Los Angeles as the number one trade hub in the United States. It remains to be seen how the Trump administration’s reshuffling of customs officers in April will affect those trade numbers.Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

3of7A trucker stands on his truck while observing the long lines to cross to Laredo, United States from Mexico on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, in Nuevo Laredo.Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

4of7View of a line of trucks waiting to cross into the United States from Nuevo Laredo on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, in Nuevo Laredo. From this view the line is 3.4 miles into the interior. The truckers said the wait from this point at the moment is four hours.Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

5of7Miguel Angel Perez Salas, a traffic controller at the Mexican side of the World Trade Bridge crosses the Calle Carr. Piedras Negras where the trucking traffic has been running slow on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, in Nuevo Laredo .Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Staff photographer

6of7Miguel Angel Perez Salas, a traffic controller at the Mexican side of the World Trade Bridge speaks to other workers about the long lines for trucks to cross into the United States from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico on Wednesday, April 3, 2019.Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Staff photographer

7of7Trucks wait in line on the Mexican Federal Highway Two to cross to the United States from Nuevo Laredo on Wednesday, April 3, 2019.Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Staff photographer

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t followed through on his threat to shut the border with Mexico, but one crossing here that connects this Mexican city with Laredo, Texas provided a glimpse of the chaos and economic disruptions that it would likely ensue.

Lines of 18-wheeled semi-trucks carrying auto parts, produce and other goods for U.S. consumers and businesses stretched more than six miles into Mexico Wednesday after the Trump administration shifted Customs and Border Protection agents from Laredo and other Texas border crossings to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley to deal with the flood of asylum seekers from Central America. Waits to cross the World Trade Bridge, which normally run 30 minutes, reached more than three hours.

The impact of the delays was being felt on both sides of the Rio Grande, with those who depend on U.S.-Mexico trade barely able to consider what would happen if the Trump closed the border. Ernesto Gaytan, president of the Laredo company Super Transport International, which has 200 trucks on the American side of the border and 300 more on the Mexican side, said he couldn’t put a number on it, but knew the delays were costing him money. A complete border shutdown, he estimated, would cost his company $200,000 a day.

On the other side of the border, Roberto Hernandez was idling at the back of the line with hundreds of 18-wheelers ahead of him. Hernandez doesn’t get paid by the hour, but rather by the number of loads he delivers.

Usually, he makes four cross-border runs a day, earning the equivalent of about $15 per load. But he was only able to make two trips on Tuesday and his is daily pay fell to $30 from $60.

“Who knows how long it will take to cross today?” Hernandez said.

Trump’s border threat is the latest development to roil a region and economy that rely on the free flow of goods between Mexico and the United States. Over the past two years, the region and its businesses have contended with the uncertainty over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the controversy over building a border wall.

Now, it is dealing with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporarily reassigning 750 customs officers from normal duties at international bridges in Laredo, Eagle Pass and other locations to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. About one-third of the northbound lanes across the World Trade Bridge have been closed, with waits during peak hours expected to extend as long as four hours.

14,000 trucks per day

Laredo is the nation’s busiest land port, handling an estimated 40 percent of all trade with Mexico, according to the Laredo Economic Development Corp. About 30 percent of the border city’s labor force is involved in cross-border commerce.

Jeff Moseley, president of the Texas Association of Business, said an estimated 14,000 trucks a day cross in both directions between Nuevo Laredo and Laredo while an untold number of people live on one side of the border and commute to the other for work.

“It’s causing uncertainty,” Moseley said about the lane closures. “Goods aren’t getting to the marketplace and people aren’t able to jobs. The Texas economy really depends on the ability to get workers and goods to market.”

Roberto Cardenas, a managing director with the Tamaulipas state trusteeship that collects tolls on the Mexican side of the bridge, said more than 167,000 trucks headed north in March. But traffic, he said, began to dramatically slow down over the weekend.

“We began to see longer and longer lines and the trucks weren’t advancing anymore,” Cardenas said.

Facing hours-long waits, truckers did what they could to pass the time. During slow periods, some hopped out of their cabs to stretch their legs. Others bought tacos, snacks and drinks from vendors along the roadway.

Most of the drivers pass the time on their cell phones and tablets -- logging on to Facebook or even watching movies on Netflix. With no public restrooms, some urinated along the sides of the road and in between the trailers.

Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz said the impact of the delays won’t be limited to border communities. Ultimately, the higher costs will mean higher consumer prices.

Saenz met Trump in 2015, when the New York billionaire was campaigning to win the Republican nomination. Saenz gave Trump a personal tour of the World Trade Bridge and first-hand look at the economic activity it enables.

“He’s holding true to his perspective,” Saenz said of Trump’s border threat, “and we’re hold true to our perspective. The border should not be shut down.”

With trade between Mexico and Texas reaching more than $200 billion last year, according to the Commerce Department, Saenz has plenty of allies in the business community. This week, Dennis Nixon, CEO of IBC Bank of Laredo, and other executives traveled to Washington to meet with administration officials in the White House and lawmakers at the Capitol to advocate for keeping international bridges opened and fully staffed.

Uncertainty reigns

Although Nixon made a donation to a pro-Trump political action committee during the 2016 campaign, the Laredo businessman has disagreed with the administration on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the border wall, and now, the threat to shut down the border in response to the wave of asylum seekers.

The bank’s executive vice president, Gerry Schwebel, said the uncertainty generated by Trump administration policies has businesses looking at alternatives to shipping goods by truck, such as rail and air cargo.

“This is unprecedented,” Schwebel said. “We’re not used to working with threats to our livelihood but it’s there and we have to deal with it.”

Sergio Chapa covers the oil & gas industry for the Houston Chronicle and writes for Texas Inc., a weekly Monday insert dedicated to covering the most powerful business leaders in Texas. Sergio was born and raised in the Lone Star State and studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously worked at the San Antonio Business Journal, KGBT-TV in the Rio Grande Valley and Al Día in Dallas.